2. The Double Pendulum by Franziska von Herrath & Scott Mandell

4. The potential energy of the system is found by combining the potential energy of each mass.

5. The kinetic energy of the system is found by combining the kinetic energy of each mass.

6. The Lagrangian of the system is:

7. Equations for generalized momenta of each angle are found by taking the partial derivative of L with respect to the time derivative of the corresponding angle.

8. After solving p 1 and p 2 for  ’ 1 and  ’ 2 respectively and simplifying, the following Hamiltonian is obtained:

9. Since the Hamiltonian is a function of all the initial conditions, the equation can be separated into four first order non-linear differential equations by taking partial derivatives with respect to the appropriate variables.

12. This system of four non-linear differential equations cannot be solved explicitly. Matlab’s ODE45 routine is used to get numerical solutions for   and  , p 1, and p 2.,

13. Depending on the initial conditions, the double pendulum exhibits three types of motion: Periodic Quasiperiodic Chaotic

14. At low energies, periodic motion dominates the system’s behavior. As the energy increases, the behavior becomes more chaotic. At high energies, the motion of the system is more ordered again. When the energy increases to infinity, periodic and quasiperiodic motion is observed.

15. Periodic Motion The system’s motion is cyclic.

16. Quasiperiodic Motion The system’s motion is almost periodic.

17. Chaotic Motion The system’s motion is unpredictable and non-repetitive.

18. Chaotic Motion Two systems with almost identical initial conditions show very different long term behavior.